


Parting Pains

by qutiepai



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Goodbyes, Mental Breakdown, Post-good ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:53:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28676262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qutiepai/pseuds/qutiepai
Summary: Day 13 since leaving the hospital. Day 13 since Sunny left Faraway for good. Day 13 since he’d seen all his friends together for the first time in years. Day 13 since he realized it was most likely the last. It was hard for him to come to terms with that. But he was there, in his home, with Polly, surrounded by the plants he had tended since he was young. He felt like his life was over, but everything around him strangely stayed the same.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 70





	Parting Pains

**Author's Note:**

> This has to be one of the longest fanfics I've ever written.
> 
> I hope you enjoy.

It was hard for Basil to sleep. With his back laying rigidly on the bed, his wide-open eyes stared onto the ceiling. He examined the patterns the moonlight would leave on it. He was already very familiar with what they were, where they were, and how they differed throughout the night as the moon slowly shifted by his window.

He found it hard to think clearly for most of the day. There were always so many things that had to be on his mind, and so many things to distract him from them. He needed a lot of time in silence after being in the hospital. The amount of noise he had to endure was nothing short of torture for all he knew.

It proved to be a pretty good distraction, though. Or, perhaps just a good excuse to avoid uncomfortable situations. Basil still couldn’t believe the truth was out. Aubrey, Hero and Kel tried their best to avoid the subject while he was recovering, but it didn’t stop being on Basil’s mind. It couldn’t be, could it? The thing that caused him so much pain and anger and fear… he thought he would take it to his grave. One he was ready to dig for himself. He would never have thought that Sunny would just–

Sunny. His feelings about him were so complex that they were hard to put into words. First, he thought he’d never see him again. Then, he was suddenly back in his life at full force, wandering around as though nothing had happened. Then, before he could even hope to process all that, he woke up in a hospital bed. The truth was already out. Basil couldn’t help but let out a faint chuckle. _What the fuck, Sunny?_

He was glad to have seen Sunny one more time, though. He could never have lied about that. He was _endlessly_ relieved that the others knew the truth. He knew that he would never have been able to tell them himself. He knew they were probably never going to be forgiven, but he was glad that both he and Sunny were alive at all. Still, he felt rather left behind. He felt like he hadn’t been but a hurdle in all this.

Basil laughed and kept laughing. He couldn’t stop laughing. Tears were pouring down his face. Everything from his stomach to his mouth to his head hurt so much, but he couldn’t stop laughing. He slammed his fist against the bed frame. His lungs were burning. He desperately tried gasping for air, but the weight of everything kept his throat shut tight.

Eventually, he managed to breathe again. His breath was erratic at first, but slowly calmed down as he felt a familiar embrace around his shoulders. Polly was by his side. She must’ve heard him. God, he had already felt guilty for relying on her so much. Now he couldn’t even let that poor woman sleep at night. He let out an apologetic whimper as his breathing began to quicken once again.

“It’s okay,” he heard her voice whisper. It was hard to believe she meant it, but Polly had never been the kind of person to lie to him. He started sobbing into her shoulder as he clutched her tightly. Basil wanted to apologize, or to thank her, but he couldn’t speak. It was too hard for him to. He hoped that maybe Polly knew he appreciated her.

\---

Day 13 since leaving the hospital. Day 13 since Sunny left Faraway for good. Day 13 since he’d seen all his friends together for the first time in years. Day 13 since he realized it was most likely the last. It was hard for him to come to terms with that. But he was there, in his home, with Polly, surrounded by the plants he had tended since he was young. He felt like his life was over, but everything around him strangely stayed the same. It brought Basil a surprising amount of comfort.

Polly would make him breakfast every morning. Sometimes she’d bring it to his bed when he was having a particularly hard time waking up. That tended to be often in the past week. Despite that, Polly always entered Basil’s room with a wide smile. She always knew what he needed. He tried to thank her for everything she’d done for him whenever he could. But he never felt like it was enough.

That morning, Basil wanted to have breakfast in the kitchen. He wanted to spend time together with Polly. He wanted to water his plants himself. As he slowly shifted his weight off the bed and onto his feet, he was sure that he would fall over for a moment. He made a mental note to try walking around the house more. He dragged his feet across the floor slowly towards the door, perpetually regaining his sense of balance.

As his hands were reaching for the doorknob, a black void filled his vision. It was there, in the same place as it stood behind Sunny that night. It was gazing at him. He felt a lump in his throat and closed his eyes as quickly as he could. A few seconds later, he opened them. It was gone. He suddenly realized that he was out of breath and could feel sweat all over his forehead. He had also fallen on the floor.

After getting back up, he hesitantly tried to open the door again. To his relief, nothing happened. He stepped out of his room in what felt like years and looked around the hallway. As the floorboards creaked quietly from his steps, Basil heard conversation coming from the living room. It might’ve just been Polly talking to someone on loudspeaker, he concluded.

The moment he stepped into the living room, he realized he could never have been more wrong. His eyes blankly stared at Polly giving someone a hug. Polly was giving Aubrey a hug.

Everything that had been familiar to Basil about his house shattered in an instant. He would never have thought he would see her there again, not so soon. He… didn’t know what to make of it. He didn’t know what to make of anything. He couldn’t take his eyes off her and Polly. He just couldn’t believe it. He felt frozen in time.

Aubrey made eye contact with him. Her expression wasn’t something Basil could give a name to. Nor did he have the energy to do that. Before he could process what had even happened, he heard himself slamming the bathroom door on himself. He was hyperventilating again. Why was this happening? Was it a one-time thing? Has Aubrey been here before? Why didn’t Polly tell him? Why did he think Polly even _had_ to tell him? Why was he such a demanding little–

He heard a thud on the door. They must have been saying his name. Basil couldn’t tell who was talking, nor what they said. He didn’t want them to worry. They shouldn’t have to worry. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed. He did his best to seem calm and took deep breaths. Looking down, he opened the bathroom door.

He was immediately met with a hug. It wasn’t the kind of hug he was used to getting from Polly. It must’ve been Aubrey. He didn’t understand. He didn’t want this. She seemed to have picked up on Basil’s discomfort, since she let go of him soon after. She made sure to take a few steps back.

“Basil, I…“ Aubrey began.

“Why are you here?” Basil muttered. He finally looked her in the eyes. She was frightening even when she was worried. He took a step towards her, raising his voice. “What do you want?!”

Despite doing his best to seem calm, he was already breathing heavily. He could feel warm tears well up in his eyes. He wanted to say so much. He wanted to ask so many questions. He wanted to shout at her until the end of time. But all that came out was whimper after whimper until he found himself crying on his knees.

“I want to apologize.” Aubrey’s voice was firm, but Basil could hear that she was on the verge of tears herself. “Not out of forgiveness, or anything else. I still don’t know what to feel about anything that’s happened.”

He tried to listen to every word she said. It took so much not to drown it out, but he knew this was important.

“Except for how I treated you. I bullied you, I hurt you, I nearly _killed_ you. And even though I’m so _mad_ and heartbroken and… hurt,” he couldn’t tell whether she was angry, sad, or both. “You didn’t deserve that. No matter what you did.”

Basil clutched his fists.

“I don’t expect you to forgive me. Just like how you don’t expect us to forgive you,” Aubrey tried to regain control over her voice. “But I felt like you should hear this when we’re at least somewhat face to face.”

Ah, that’s right. He was pretty sure he heard Aubrey speak to him through the door that day. Most of that afternoon was a blur, but that voice wasn’t something he could easily forget.

“I…” Basil took a deep breath, “I don’t…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to tell me anything.” Aubrey sighed, “I’m… also sorry for coming so unexpectedly. I definitely should have been more careful about that.”

He silently appreciated her acknowledgement.

“Well, thanks for having me, Polly. Your tea was excellent.” she turned to her, “I’ll be on my way now.”

Aubrey’s steps away from him echoed in his head like gongs. The five of them might have ended on a sour note in the hospital, but this… this was Aubrey saying goodbye. In her own way. He didn’t want her to leave. He _so_ didn’t want her to leave. He wanted everyone to be together again. He–

“Aubrey.” his voice was grounded. He took a pause to sigh. “Thank you.”

\---

She didn’t turn around but stopped in her tracks for just a moment in front of the door. There was someone behind her. Someone she cared about on his knees, buried in anguish and guilt. There was someone behind her surrounded by darkness. Despite all the anger she felt towards him, she hoped that he would find a way to shine again.

Even if she wouldn’t be there to see it.

**Author's Note:**

> I began writing this right after I finished the game, and suddenly got the inspiration to finish it today. Basil is a really interesting character to me, and I kind of wanted to play around with his feelings post-good ending. I hope I managed to do that in an entertaining way.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading.


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